October Gigs & News

So with new albums from Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir and some great upcoming gigs, there is plenty to keep you going this month.
But to jump ahead to December 17th we see a brand new club opening up in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, it promises to bring Live bands and Dj's playing Goth/Alt/Industrial/Blackend Metal, and its free entry.

ACHILLA

Heading out on a mini tour to promote the Arashi single

SOLSIKK

Support slot to Tarja and a track on a new compilation CD!!

BIG RED PARTY TIME!


OTHER GIGS NOT TO MISS :

And Finally A sneak peak behind the creativity of FROM GREAT HEIGHT :)

MARCH FLYERS

BANGTOY,AFFLUENZA,SOLSIKK,ASP Live At The Gaff 14.11.09 (Gig Review)

BANGTOY
AFFLUENZA
SOLSIKK
ASP

The Gaff, Holloway Road 14.11.09

ASP
So cant really review my own band can i????
It was fun, i forgot the lyrics to the new song but remembered most of the others which considering i havent sung them for nearly 20 years aint bad!!!!My band just did 4 songs and total respect to Dave from thrash legends Virus for playing drums and to Mark and Pawel for bass and guitar from the Lightning Riders.

SOLSIKK
Time for a real band to take the stage, did i say take? I mean storm!!!!I tell you Solsikk are the best damn female fronted metal band in London if not the whole of England, im not joking here they are amazing, such great musicianship and superb vocals with a great range, there is nothing to fault.

High speed drumming from Matt is matched by Mark's pounding bass and as for chris' guitar work, it is stunning especially the solo on 'Cuts A Little Deeper' possibley the best solo of 2009!
Vykki's vocals range from mellow to agressive and just blows Angela Gossow off the planet!That this band are not a household name is a shame, but in 2010 i have a feeling that will change!

AFFLUENZA
Yet again the band deny me the oppertunity of writing a bad review!
In fact i have to say the band are geting better, there is a definite Black Sabbath influence flowing through their music and add to that a modern almost static x/fear factory style drumming and great basswork it is now quite a sound!
Vocalist Al screams with a vengeance every single word and the new song tonight was really good.

BANGTOY
Their first headline show and it has to be said their best performance so far as well.Such was their confidence they started the set with a brand new song called 'Do It On The Floor', then launchd into the old classics, vocalist Frank was on form tonight as were the rest of the band.
Outstanding song of the night was another new one called 'Feel The Fire' it has all the elements of "hit".

STU

ASP

SOLSIKK

AFFLUENZA

BANGTOY

NOVEMBER GIG FLYERS

SOLSIKK - VOLATILE TERRITORY EP (Cd Review)

01.Razored Cell

02.Volatile Territory

03.Your Blistering Tongue

04.Cut A Little Deeper

Vykki Turner (Vocals)

Chris Webb (Guitar)

Mark Mulcaster (Bass)

Matt C (Drums)

Solsikk were formed by Chris and Matt after they left technical death metal band Biomechanical, there was a desire to form a band that could fuse that energy but blend it with melody and female vocals.

The ep kicks off with an immence bass heavy riff, but quickly the harmony vocals and musical breakdowns show that there is much more on offer here than female lead agressive heavy metal, in the style of say 'Otep'.

It is the heavy riffs and precision drumming mixed with pounding bass work that provides an outstanding backdrop to the multi tracked vocal expertise of Vikki.

"Your Blistering Tongue" is a really good fucking track, the phased guitar intro melts into some fantastic drumming with a slow vocal, it just moves along with a perfect head banging rhythm.

Finally this all too short ep ends with a ballad (shock horror!), fear not my metal loving Viking hordes for this will slay you with its beautiful vocals and atmospheric keyboard backing, but wait...for this song unleashes some of the finest guitarwork i have heard for a long time.

It is simply stunning!

Rating 9/10

For Fans Of : Arch Enemy, Otep, Fear Factory, Tristania

STU

ACHILLA, SOLSIKK, STONE CIRCLE, ARXIS Live At The Gaff 12.06.09 (Gig Review)

ACHILLA
SOLSIKK
STONE CIRCLE
ARXIS

The Gaff, Holloway Road 12.06.09

You cant put a metal gig on in London during Download festival weekend they said, how wrong they were......

ARXIS
Hailing from south london, these guys understand their heavy metal and perform to a very high standard.
Entertaining and very talented there is a great potential here for another fan winning band.Strong songs with great hooks n riffs get the right reaction but the highlight from tonights set was an inspired cover of Iron Maiden's "Wicker Man", a smart move when nobody knows your own material.

STONE CIRCLE
Vocalist and lead guitarist Joe Ashwin is clearly the result of a genetic experiment to splice together Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour and Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt !
They perform long and highly technical songs which are individual masterpieces of excellence.
I do not use such words lightly this band has an amazing and mature sound blending melody and progressive death metal to the standard of Opeth, my only question here is "why are they not signed?".

SOLSIKK
Powering into a set of Arch Enemy vocal attack meets Fear Factory beats, fuelled by solid bass, expert drumming and break-neck guitarwork, the band more than lived up to expectations.
Then we come to song number four, a ballad.This really made you stop in your tracks initial reaction was that of slight confusion but then as the song progressed the audience were totally with it then came one of the most stunning guitar solos i have heard in a long time, full of soul and note perfect.

They followed this with a less than serious cover of Willie Dixons blues classic 'I Just Want To Make Love To You' complete with extreme metal triggering from drummer Matt.

The rest of the set was pulled back to full on metal to end a perfect performance.

ACHILLA
Having seen them a couple of months back at the Underworld suffering from bad sound i was looking forward to hearing them properly, i was a little surprised to them as a quartet as opposed to a five piece and with a different bassist.

Tonights performance was like watching a different band, they seemed more relaxed yet produced a very intense set, their sound was excellent and Dan's guitarwork was inspired.
They played all the soon to be "Classics" like 'Arashi', 'Inside A Lie' and the awesome 'Devils Eyes', tonight they also threw in an unusual cover of 'Pull Me Under' by Dream Theatre, weird to hear it with female vocals but they pulled it off with real class.

Achilla have the potential to be a great band able to rival Nightwish both musically and with Martamaria vocally.Personally i feel that a keyboard player would add greatly to their sound and bring it to another level.
All in all a stunning performance from a band that deserves your attention.

STU

ARXIS

STONE CIRCLE

SOLSIKK

ACHILLA